Al Gore’s new book ‘Our Choice’ — a review by John Doerr
[John Doerr is a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He submitted this review to VentureBeat. Al Gore was named a partner at Kleiner Perkins two years ago. Both will be speaking at GreenBeat, our conference on the smart grid on… Continue Reading
Mark Zuckerberg, top VCs drop off Forbes’ billionaire list
Financially, it’s been a tough year for almost everyone, even the absurdly rich. Some of the tech world’s richest men are billionaires no more, according to Forbes’ new list of the world’s billionaires. Among the most notable dropoffs (for VentureBeat readers) are Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg,… Continue Reading
Obama appoints John Doerr to economic advisory board
Updated
President Barack Obama just named two Silicon Valley bigwigs to his new Economic Recovery Advisory Board — famed venture capitalist John Doerr of Keiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles Phillips, president of business software maker Oracle Corp.
There’s an impressive range of names on the… Continue Reading
Meet the new Midas List, same as the old list
Forbes has released the latest edition of its Midas List ranking of the top investors, and it’s full of familiar faces. The top four spots are literally identical to last year’s list, with Google backers John Doerr (of Kleiner Perkins), Michael Moritz (of Sequoia Capital),… Continue Reading
Like father, like offspring? Mary Doerr, daughter of legendary VC, launches Inconvenient Youth
In most cases, when a 17 year old girl wants to attempt to galvanize her generation against global warming, the end product tends to be basically nothing. Things change a bit when that girl’s father is Kleiner Perkins’ chief rainmaker, John Doerr.
The VC, who led… Continue Reading
The ‘titans’ of venture capital: Entrepreneurs, we’re here to serve you
Updated
John Doerr and Michael Moritz, the most prominent venture capitalists in the world, just squared off at the annual meeting of the National Venture Capital Association. Largely on the basis of their investments in Google, the two men have spent the last few years jockeying… Continue Reading
Al Gore joins Kleiner Perkins as a partner — to push green investments
Kleiner Perkins, the well-known venture capital firm that backed Google, Netscape, Sun, Amazon and many others, has always had a soft spot for politics.
Now the firm has added former Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore as a partner — in an continued effort to… Continue Reading
Personal-genetics startup Navigenics, a competitor to Google-backed 23andMe, unstealths
(UPDATED: See below.)
Navigenics, a new personal genetics startup with some serious backing, threw back the curtain over the weekend by unveiling its Web site. The Redwood Shores, Calif., startup says it aims to provide individuals with their genetic profiles and then to “arm” them with ways… Continue Reading
Doerr’s crusade on global warming
When John Doerr spoke at the Ted conference in March, he broke into tears at the end of a 20-minute talk about global warming.
We heard from some participants that the speech was moving.
The talk is on YouTube, and is worth watching. Doerr summarizes what large… Continue Reading
Powerbeam, the wireless electricity start-up
Powerbeam, a new Silicon Valley start-up, is working on a revolutionary idea: Using a laser to beam light, the energy of which would be used to power your laptop or other device without having to plug it in.
PowerBeam says its powerful laser can transmit more… Continue Reading
Conde Nast launches Portfolio.com
Condé Nast, the New York publisher, today launches Portfolio, a new magazine that chronicles “how business shapes the world—and who the players are that wield the power.”
The first batch of stories is impressive, and if the magazine keeps this up, it’s bound to make waves…. Continue Reading
Roundup: Frontline, Breitbart, Maxthon, Clipsearch, Yahoo-Viacom, Salesforce-Koral
Here’s the latest action:
Big names support Frontline Wireless, which wants to end-run carriers — James Barksdale, former chief executive of Netscape (left, top), and John Doerr, a big-name venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins (left, bottom), are the latest to back Frontline Wireless, the company we wrote… Continue Reading
Roundup: Apple TV a hit, YouTube killer, Google PPA, Wink & more
Updated
Apple TV is a hit — According to early accounts, at least.
YouTube killer? — [Update: This has been confirmed.] Rumors have existed for some time about collusion among the big-media players to challenge YouTube, the king of video sharing. Now the LA Times reports that News Corp…. Continue Reading
MyCFO, a house of cards
Some former employees of the failed MyCFO, the financial service company started during boom to cater to wealth individuals, are subjects of criminal investigation for proposing sham tax shelters to its clients.
The WSJ has the story about MyCFO, its demise, and the shadow hanging over… Continue Reading
VC John Doerr leads $10M investment in physician software co., Purkinje
St. Louis’ Purkinje, a company that provides clinical and billing software for physicians, has raised $10M in a fourth round of funding led by board members John Doerr and Michael Long.
The company lists Doerr as the principal owner and backer. Doerr is a partner at… Continue Reading
Amyris gets $20M from high-profile investors to find alternative fuel
Two high-profile Silicon Valley investors known for their aggressive support of alternative energy have helped pump $20 million into a new Emeryville biology company called Amyris.
The investment is notable because Amyris is using synthetic biology to search for an ideal alternative fuel to replace… Continue Reading
Khosla responds to conflicts-of-interest charge on oil tax
Vinod Khosla, the successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is leading the effort to raise a tax on oil extracted in the California, has responded to the oil industry’s charges that he has conflicts.
In an interview the WSJ (sub req), Khosla says his investments in… Continue Reading
3Jam launches group SMS, nice
Updated
3Jam has launched a new way to texting friends in groups, and we think it’s going to do well. Multi-person texting simply isn’t possible yet, and with 80 million people with texting in the U.S. and growing, 3Jam may be hitting a sweet spot.
And texting… Continue Reading
The Oil Drum debate, round one
With VC investments in clean technologies growing, and the state making important energy policy decisions to fend off global warming, the oil-ethanol debate is growing in importance. The valley has a stake in understanding the economics of a switch away from oil, to support ethanol.
Robert… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley leaders prove clout on global warming bill
Turns out, a group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists, including Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr, and other business folks helped tipped the balance on the landmark global warming bill passed last week.
The bill, AB 32, mandates that California reduce global warming emissions by 25 percent —… Continue Reading